Summer glared at One with an expression of absolute, cold disappointment.
[Pfft. That poor zombie.]
’Shut up...’ Summer shouted in her mind, her pale brows furrowing deeply.
"You... greatly disappointed me, One," Summer stated seriously. She used her class skill to send a sharp mental command through the invisible thread, forcing the tall zombie to bow its head and nod in robotic acceptance.
"So from now onwards, you are not qualified to lead my great army."
She turned away from One and pointed her pale finger at the group of thirty-five controlled zombies standing stiffly nearby.
She chose one among them as it shuffled forward to stand before her. This was a new zombie she had acquired recently.
It wore a dusty business suit and formal pants, and except for a clean bite mark on the side of its neck, there were no heavy injuries on its body.
"You are Two," Summer announced, raising her chin with pride. "You will be the leader from now on. Congratulations, Two!"
Summer began to clap her hands enthusiastically. Following her direct mental command, the other thirty-four controlled zombies immediately started clapping along in a stiff, rhythmic motion.
A few feet away from her, Ella watched the strange ceremony, her eyes shining with pure fascination.
’She is so cool,’ Ella thought, clasping her hands together against her chest.
[Damn it, both the human and the zombie are plain dumb.]
’Hmph. It’s just that you can’t sense my greatness.’ Summer was happy to show off her skills, and more than happy when someone was in awe of that.
[Show-off zombie..]
Summer ignored the annoying system.
Since Summer had agreed to let Ella practice fighting real zombies, Ilas quickly decided to join her twin sister.
When Mary learned that both of her sixteen-year-old daughters were planning to step into combat, she almost suffered a heart attack from pure panic.
But Jacob held a far more practical opinion.
The world had already dissolved into absolute madness. There was no guarantee that the peaceful days of the past would ever return, and one had to become independent to survive in this nightmare.
Anyone could die at any moment. Furthermore, Jacob had witnessed Summer’s terrifying capabilities firsthand.
With her and her small army keeping watch, the safety of his daughters during training was essentially guaranteed.
In fact, Jacob decided to join his daughters in the fight as well, leaving Mary with no other option than to trail behind them.
They did not go into this unprepared. Directly across from the bank lobby was a large shopping mall.
Earlier that morning, Summer had dispatched her zombie horde to sweep through the lower levels and clear out any wandering zombies, making the building completely safe for now.
When the family finished their gear preparations, Summer stood on the polished tile floor, her mouth hanging wide open in pure shock.
All four humans had raided a sporting goods store and a hardware shop on the ground floor.
Jacob wore heavy leather motorcycle jackets over thick denim jeans, with duct tape wrapped firmly around his forearms and shins to prevent any teeth or claws from piercing his skin.
Mary wore a padded equestrian vest and reinforced work gloves. Ella and Ilas had equipped themselves with hard plastic catchers’ chest guards, shin guards from a baseball set, and thick leather gloves.
Every single inch of their vulnerable flesh was covered, leaving absolutely no spot for a zombie to scratch or infect them.
Compared to their meticulous armor, Summer looked like a total stray.
Her upper clothes were completely in tatters, held together only by Ella’s oversized coat, while the only high-quality items she possessed were her Swift Strider Boots and Iron Brawler Gauntlets, which, without their active abilities triggered, looked like a pair of simple black gloves.
[You do not need those toys. Don’t be jealous. You can find far better gear in the future...]
’I am not jealous,’ Summer pursed her pale lips, unable to remove her intense glance from the four humans, making them feel increasingly uncomfortable under her glowing red gaze.
[Say that after wiping off that saliva.]
Summer involuntarily raised her hand to wipe the corner of her mouth, but her skin was completely dry.
[Haha! Stupid zombie.]
’Shut up!’
"Ahem..." Jacob cleared his throat to get her attention, shifting his weight awkwardly. "We are ready, Summer."
Summer returned her attention to him, snapping out of her trance with a firm nod. She pulled a mental thread, directing Two and three other zombies to step outside and locate a wandering target.
She specifically commanded them to pick a small-sized ordinary zombie.
Outside in the street, a small, emaciated zombie was suddenly jumped by a group of its own kind. It was far too dumb to understand what was happening, offering no resistance as Summer’s small squad dragged it forcefully into the mall lobby.
However, the moment it caught the intoxicating scent of living human flesh nearby, its mindless confusion vanished, replaced instantly by raw, ravenous hunger.
With a guttural roar, the small zombie thrashed violently, trying to break free. But Summer’s little army pinned its arms to its sides, holding it firmly in place as they waited for her next order.
Ella even felt the zombie named One was far too enthusiastic to pin that poor loner zombie, almost as if it was trying to regain the lost favor from its master and once again take over the leader role.
’What am I thinking. It’s just a dumb zombie.’ Ella shook her head.
"Who is first?" Summer asked, stepping back.
"I am..." Jacob stepped forward, gripping a solid aluminum baseball bat with both hands.
He took a deep breath, adjusted his stance, and stepped into the creature’s reach as Summer commanded her zombies to release its arms.
The wild zombie lunged forward with open jaws, but it was nowhere near a match for a focused human.
Jacob swung the metal bat with all his strength, driving the heavy aluminum barrel straight into the side of the monster’s temple.
BANG!
The skull caved in instantly, and the corpse collapsed onto the marble floor, dead.
Before Jacob could even lower his weapon, a bright, golden light suddenly burst from his chest, enveloping his entire body in a warm aura.
[You have killed an Ordinary Zombie.]
[Congratulations! You have been integrated into the System.]
[You have awakened a Talent: ’Striker’. All your strikes with non-edged blunt weapons will induce 100% more damage.]
"This..." Jacob shouted in complete surprise, staring at his glowing hands in sheer awe. "I... I awakened a talent!"
While his family gasped and gathered around him in joy, Summer stood off to the side with a deep frown on her pale face.
’He got a system too? That was way too easy for him,’ she complained internally, recalling how much effort and hunger it had taken for her to reach her current state.
[Dummy, that is not a full system like yours. It is merely a Talent. Humans are naturally blessed in this way. They can awaken talents simply by killing the infected, unlike the infected who can only evolve their bodies and unlock class skills through core consumption.]
’So I am less talented than a human?’ Summer felt a petty wave of jealousy rising in her chest.
[You? How can you compare yourself to a mere human? Or even an infected? You are special. You have me! There is no evolution ceiling for you. Rather than unlocking simple fixed talents, you can collect unlimited skills by killing special infected and other awakened beings. Summer, the reason you are not receiving any skill drops right now is because the zombies you are killing are nothing special.]
’Oh...’ Summer pouted her lips slightly. ’Even those giant feral zombies?’
[Yes. They are merely brute force variants among ferals. There are feral zombies with strange, terrifying evolutions out there, Summer. It is simply not the time for them to appear yet. But it seems humans have started to awaken too. You have to be careful from now on. Humans... they are far too adaptive. Now they are becoming strong as well. They will surely try to reclaim what was once theirs.]
What the system did not tell her was the cruel truth of this new world: Summer would never truly belong to the humans, nor would she ever belong to the mindless zombies.
It remained completely silent, watching as the pale zombie girl’s attention quickly drifted away from the warning.
Summer’s glowing red eyes focused back on Jacob and his daughters, completely ignoring the solemn nature of the system’s words.
[Sigh. It really is not easy to babysit...] the system muttered helplessly.